


Stay Strong

by Vialana



Series: Hope [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Friendship, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 02, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 09:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11377053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vialana/pseuds/Vialana
Summary: Keith is the one watching Lance in a healing pod this time.





	Stay Strong

**Author's Note:**

> More Keith POV. Hopefully this answers everyone's questions about Lance's fate in the last story.

The medbay was eerie in the middle of the night. Shadows stretched along the walls in strange shapes and the hum of machinery echoed through the still air. It was always so cold too. The blue glow of the occupied healing pod didn’t do anything to help the ambiance, much less the seemingly lifeless body inside.

Not lifeless; just unconscious. Healing. Slowly.

Lance was alive and he would be okay. It was just going to take time.

And Keith, sitting on the floor in front of the pod staring up at Lance’s sleeping face, was going to spend all of that time making sure nothing else could happen to the blue paladin.

 

* * *

 

“It’s been three days.”

Keith barely glanced at Hunk as he took a seat next to him on the floor. He also ignored the bowl of food goo Hunk slid towards him.

“Coran thinks it’ll still take another two before Lance is good enough to be released.”

Keith continued staring at the pod.

Hunk grabbed Keith’s shoulder and forcibly turned him around so they were facing each other. Hunk was glaring and Keith was surprised enough by the actions to let himself be pulled around and yelled at.

“You haven’t slept or eaten or bathed—which is super gross and incredibly worrying. I honestly don’t care about your stupid guilt complex right now; you are going to eat the food I made you, take a long shower and wash your hair, then go to bed and sleep for at least ten hours.”

Keith finally found a voice to protest, a croaky despairing sound, “Hunk, no I——”

Hunk put a firm finger to his lips and shook his head. “No. You are useless right now. And we cannot afford to have two more paladins out any longer. Especially not our leader.”

Keith wanted to protest again, but Hunk was right. They were already down by one and Lance was out for two more cycles at least. Hunk and Pidge couldn’t do everything on their own even if Allura had directed the castle to somewhere safe and quiet to give Lance enough time to recover.

He let out a huge breath and closed his eyes, shoulders slumping as he gave in to Hunk’s not unreasonable demands.

“Okay.”

Hunk sighed and his frown transformed into a relieved smile. “Thank you.”

Keith picked up the bowl and started eating. Hunk stayed beside him the entire time, a warm comforting presence in the cold sterile room.

As soon as he was finished (scraping the bottom of the bowl for the last remnants in fact) Keith stood up. But he hesitated before leaving.

“You’ll be here?”

Hunk looked up at him. “Of course, He’s my best friend. I’ll make sure nothing happens.”

Keith looked away, suddenly ashamed of his irrational actions and thoughts. Of course he could trust Hunk with Lance’s wellbeing. He wasn’t alone in his concern—everyone was affected. He didn’t know why he’d been so focused on the idea that he had to stay right here the entire time Lance was out. It was ridiculous. Everyone had to think he was crazy. No wonder Hunk was so insistent that he get some rest.

And yet, he still hesitated at the threshold of the medbay.

He looked back at Lance, taking in the peaceful expression under the burns. Keith’s heart beat in time with the monitor gauging Lances vitals. He just couldn’t shake the fear that if he looked away then Lance would slip away, never to be seen again.

Keith took his time memorising Lance’s face then left the medbay.

 

* * *

 

Keith slept for over half a cycle. He tossed and turned the entire time, plagued by nightmares.

He woke with a gasp, Lance’s name on his lips, sweat covering his body.

Lance was fine, he told himself. Lance was healing. Hunk was with him. Hunk would have woken him is something happened. Nothing happened. Lance was  _ fine _ .

It didn’t help.

Keith got dressed and ran to the medbay.

Pidge was sitting with Hunk, wires and electronics spread all over the floor. She was pointing at a tablet filled with blueprints and Hunk was nodding along to her explanation. A few empty bowls sat nearby (including Keith’s from yesterday). They looked like they’d been at whatever they were doing for a while.

Lance was still sleeping peacefully in the healing pod. His burns had healed significantly overnight. His vitals were steady and strong. Everything was fine.

Keith didn’t know what he’d been so worried about.

Pidge and Hunk looked up as he stepped into the room. Keith waved his hand, a little sheepishly. “Morning.”

Pidge snorted. “You wish. Ow!” She rubbed her arm where Hunk had elbowed her.

Hunk smiled up at Keith, ignoring Pidge’s glare. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Keith looked away, blushing. “Thanks Hunk.”

“No problem.” Hunk got to his feet with a wince, stretching his back. “Well, that’s my shift done.” He patted Pidge on the head and collected the empty bowls together before walking towards the door. He stopped in front of Keith and stared hard at him. “Don’t do it again.”

Keith nodded. “I promise.”

“Good.”

Hunk put the bowls onto the desk by the door then wrapped Keith up in a tight hug. Keith’s feet left the floor. It should have been stifling, but Keith found himself pressing his face into Hunk’s neck and hugging back.

Hunk let him go and smiled. “I’ll see you two tomorrow.” He picked up the bowls again and left the medbay.

Keith watch Hunk wander down the hall towards the kitchen before crossing over to sit in the empty space Hunk left between the computers and wires and random pieces of tech Pidge dragged in. He looked at Lance’s vitals again to make sure they hadn’t changed before turning to watch Pidge put together … something.

“Is this gonna be a thing now?” Pidge asked, head down, focused on her work.

“Is what going to be a thing?”

“You and Lance trying to outdo each other in the self-sacrificing olympics or whatever. Because, honestly, I would much prefer you go back to bickering over stupid things like which Lion has the coolest power or who ate the last of Hunk’s cookies or who can do the most push-ups or whatever you two used to argue about. It was annoying, but way less stressful for everyone else on the ship.”

Keith stared at Pidge. She was still looking at her gear, twisting wires together and soldering connections on a motherboard. But her fingers were tense and her back too straight.

He remembered telling her to leave him and Lance—that they didn’t need her help. He remembered her coming anyway, arriving after the explosion, her and Hunk taking out the surviving droids that chased Keith and the Yexen back to Red. He remembered her face when she saw Lance’s body in his arms. He wondered if that was how she looked when Lance had been the one to bring his body back to the castle.

Despite what he’d promised himself when he took the role as leader of Voltron, Keith hadn’t been thinking about what his teammates wanted or needed from him. He was still rushing in without backup, not listening when they offered insight. He still thought he was in this alone and now Lance was paying the price for his shortsightedness.

“I’m sorry Pidge.” Keith blinked away the tears forming, but she could hear them in his voice anyway. “I know it’s not an excuse, but I’ve been trying, I just keep slipping back into old habits. I want to do better.”

Pidge slammed her soldering iron onto the floor so she could punch Keith on the arm. “You dumbass. You’re doing fine. You just need to slow down sometimes and maybe listen. You’re not Shiro and no one expects or wants you to be. But even he didn’t always listen sometimes. This is a tough life full of surprises and the possibility of death is always present.” She looked down, her fingers curling into the material of his t-shirt. “Just … try not to consciously invite it. Stop doing stupid things, okay? We all care about you and none of us want to lose you.”

“Okay.” Keith hesitated for a moment, but Pidge’s words were still ringing in his ears, full of sincerity and desperation. He raised his arm and slung it around her shoulders, pulling her tight against him. She instantly relaxed into his side, curling her own arm around his waist.

“Just so you know,” she mumbled into his chest, “you’re not that special. I’m giving Lance the same lecture when he finally gets his ass out of that pod.”

Keith laughed. “I expected nothing less.”

They sat in silence for a while, taking strength from each other and just watching the steady readings of Lance’s vitals flash on the pod screen.

“What are you working on anyway?” Keith finally asked.

Pidge pulled away with her usual crooked grin and grabbed the blueprints. Keith let himself get absorbed in her enthusiasm as she started explaining exactly what she was building. It was easy to sit and listen to Pidge talk tech.

Keith looked up at Lance in the pod and could almost imagine the fond smile on Lance’s face that belied his rolling eyes as he watched Pidge trip over her words in her enthusiasm.

 

* * *

 

Keith was struggling to stay awake when Allura wandered into the medbay. She was standing by the door one second, then he blinked and she was right in front of him leaning down to run her fingers through his hair.

She smiled gently when she saw that he was looking up at her in confusion. “You can go to your room, Keith. I’ll stay with Lance for a few vargas.”

Keith shook his head, both in answer and to try and wake himself. He straightened up from his slouch against the desk. “I’m fine, princess.”

She raised an eyebrow, as though saying,  _ ‘You’re not, but I’m going to let it slide for now.’ _

Keith sighed. “I will be fine,” he offered truthfully, “once Lance wakes up.”

Allura nodded. “Of course.” Rather than arguing, she sat down next to him, back against the desk, skirts flowing around her legs like a gentle sea. “It has been rather quiet these days. It’s quite disconcerting.”

Keith laughed. “Yeah. Who would have thought any of us would miss it?”

“Not that I’d ever tell him.”

“Yeah. No chance.”

They shared conspiratorial smiles in the dark.

Allura looked over at Lance and Keith followed her gaze. He seemed almost completely healed. No more visible burns and colour was starting to return to his cheeks. He was a little thin, but with Hunk around to fuss over his best friend that wouldn’t last long.

“He cares for you very deeply,” Allura said, startling Keith from his contemplation of Lance.

Keith turned to stare at her with wide eyes. “What? N-no … I mean, yes? I don’t …”

Allura just looked at him and Keith gave up with a sigh.

“I know.”

Allura inclined her head, asking him to elaborate but Keith kept his mouth shut this time. She didn’t seem to mind—seemed almost amused, in fact. Keith really didn’t want to know why she was smiling that tiny secret smile. In training it usually meant she’d planned something painful and humiliating for the paladins.

She let him sweat, her smile never wavering. Keith finally cracked and blurted, “He kissed me.”

Allura’s eyes practically sparkled. “Really?!” She leaned in close, grabbing both his hands in hers and squeezing. “When?”

Keith’s expression changed from panicked to pained. “Just before the explosion.” Allura’s excited grip softened to a comforting caress.

“Oh Keith.”

Keith shook his head. “I’ve had days to think about it, but I can’t concentrate. Everything just keeps crashing together in my mind. I keep thinking about all our fights and then about the explosion, then him comforting me about Shiro, then about him flirting with you and Nyma and every girl we meet. And even when all of that is swirling in my head, I’m staring at him in the healing pod thinking that he could have died and I didn’t even …” Keith cut off, his voice failing as his throat closed up. His emotions were sitting so close to the surface. It felt like anything could be enough to set him off into a flood of tears and angry screams.

But Allura’s hands on his were a comforting anchor to reality. He focused on how her thumbs massaged the back of his hands in long soft strokes, how their fingers tangled together, how his unexpected shaking was calming into easy stillness.

Keith looked up into Allura’s multi-coloured eyes and smiled. “Thanks Allura.”

“You’re very welcome. And I hope you know that I’m always here to talk if you need it or just want to.”

Keith smiled, so very glad that he had met her and they were even firmer friends now after the ugliness between them after he found out his heritage. He couldn’t imagine life now without Allura’s firm and steady presence or even without her teasing smiles and dedication to the team and their battles. He was glad she was here.

Keith yawned suddenly, causing Allura to let out a soft laugh.

“Rest Keith. It wouldn’t do for you to be the one falling into his arms tomorrow morning when he’s the injured party.”

Keith smiled at her quip. “He’d never let me live it down.”

“Neither would I.”

Keith laughed and got to his feet. Allura rose with him, steadying him as he stumbled back against the desk. He smiled at her in thanks then looked over at the pod.

Without really thinking about it, Keith walked the few steps over to the machine and laid his hand on the transparent surface of the healing pod not covered by readings or vital commands.

Lance was so still behind the barrier. Keith needed to see him move, to hear him complain, to touch his warm skin. Keith needed to know, using his own senses not just diagnostic readings, that Lance was okay and not in any danger of dying. He needed Lance to wake up.

Keith needed  _ Lance _ .

His hand slid from the pod and Keith walked out of the medbay. Hopefully for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on Tumblr: [ladyvialana](https://ladyvialana.tumblr.com/)


End file.
